Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for holding a hearing on “The United States Population and Immigration.” I welcome the speakers as they testify on the status of the U.S. population, past, present and in the future, citing trends and offering projections. While the focus today will be on the U.S. population, we need to keep in mind that the rest of the world, neighboring nations and others, will impact the quality of life that we enjoy within our boundaries.

Finite number of resources

I also want to commend Congressman Ken Calvert, author of this bill, and the Immigration Subcommittee staff for assisting in crafting this legislation. This bill will correct the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow another family member to become a sponsor of an applicant by signing an affidavit of support if the original sponsor has died.

Current INS regulations set up by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 allows sponsors to sign an affidavit of support to transfer sponsorship of an applicant. Unfortunately, if a sponsor dies without signing an affidavit of support, the applicant must start the long process over again. Due to the immense number of applicants filing for permanent residency, the application process for the INS can take more than a decade.

In my district, I have a constituent, Myrna Gabiola, who wanted to become the sponsor of her two brothers, who were applying to become permanent citizens after their father passed away. Ben and Renan Patao had their father petition for visas in 1984 but their father, a naturalized American citizen who emigrated from the Philippines, died of stomach cancer in 1994 without the INS having processed the petition. The family was so focused on the health of the father that they did not realize that the father had to sign an affidavit of support allowing another family member to take over the application while he was still live. There was no indication of a problem until Renan and Ben Patao had interviews and did not have the required affidavit of support. They were subsequently denied. This family waited over sixteen years to be granted an interview for permanent residency and were then sent to the back of the line to begin the process over again because there was no other recourse.

This family tried to immigrate legally and waited patiently for years and were punished for having their father, the original sponsor, die in the process. These two brothers are fortunate enough to have a sister that is willing and financially able to sponsor them. This bill is intended to keep families together and to avoid two tragedies that stem from one unfortunate event.

Again, I thank the Chairman for holding this markup and for his leadership on this well intended immigration bill.

###